Spanish police have recovered three religious artworks stolen from churches in Valladolid over the summer, bringing the case one step closer to a miraculously happy ending. A suspect is in custody, though investigators are still looking for a fourth missing sculpture.
The recovered objects include a Baroque wooden angel from the Church of Vera Cruz, a copy of Ecce Homo by Spanish Renaissance painter Luis de Morales, and a panel depicting the Seventh Station of the Cross. The latter two belonged to the Church of San Pablo.
According to El País, police arrested a man on September 17 in Valladolid’s Arturo Eyries neighborhood after witnesses helped investigators connect a series of church thefts committed between July and September. The suspect faces allegations of crimes against historical heritage.
When police searched his home, they found several items they believe were used in the thefts, including bags for concealing and transporting the artworks and an electric scooter apparently used to travel between churches. They did not, however, find any of the missing art at the time of the arrest.
The investigation has since led to the recovery of three of the four missing objects. Police have not said where the artworks were found or how they were recovered.
One piece is still unaccounted for: a 19th-century polychrome wooden angel belonging to the Church of San Felipe Neri.
The thefts attracted attention in September partly because of how easily the artworks appeared to have been swiped. At San Pablo, church officials suspected that two objects had been taken during an evening Mass, while parishioners were facing the altar. Witnesses reportedly saw a man leaving the church carrying a large plastic bag.
The incidents prompted the Archbishopric of Valladolid to warn churches throughout the region to tighten security, maintain photographic inventories of their collections, and report suspected thefts promptly.
Police said the unusually rapid succession of thefts helped them narrow their search to a single suspect. Investigators have found no evidence of accomplices, according to El País.
The case also comes during a period of heightened concern about thefts from European museums and religious institutions. Europol has warned of an increase in museum robberies, with gold objects proving particularly attractive to thieves.